


rare is this love, keep it covered

by joker0705



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Not K-Pop Idols, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Established Relationship, Fae & Fairies, Fluff, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nonbinary Character, Other, Star-crossed, haechan is a farmer, kinda its ambigious but positive?, renjun is a prince, you know what happens next!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 06:08:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28577271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joker0705/pseuds/joker0705
Summary: renjun’s always resented the manor, too many pairs of prying eyes for his taste. for generations, his family has reigned there, he himself being in line to the throne one day. he couldn’t feel any more out of place. but no matter how harsh the chill of those stony walls, haechan had always burned hot enough to keep him warm.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	rare is this love, keep it covered

**Author's Note:**

> i listened to Night Off's Last Night EP while writing this, so if you wanna listen while reading, here you go! https://youtu.be/KvcN7_nQw8U

the spring twilight washes the sky with a dusky pink, like you’d see in a painting, and covers the ground of the gardens in darkness. oak trees and blossoms offer shelter from the remaining daylight, enough to obscure secret conversations from the windows of the palace that the gardens surround. 

renjun’s always resented the manor, too many pairs of prying eyes for his taste. for generations, his family has reigned there, he himself being in line to the throne one day. there’s always been someone scolding him for ‘improper’ behaviour or ditching his lessons, giving him chiding looks as he walks the corridors. of course, there are parts of the castle no-one but the young prince know about, but he gets tired of having to hide. 

so he makes his way to the gardens whenever he wants time away. the vastness and ever-changing nature of the plants fill him with a sense of comfort that he can’t find within the stony walls. the land is bursting into life after a long winter, flowers beginning to show their colours and the trees’ leaves now unfurling into splashes of green. 

on this particular evening, renjun waits on an old rusted bench half-covered in ivy, tucked away amongst the unruly foliage in the corner of the gardens. his family would have arranged for it to be cleared, awfully concerned about retaining a pristine image, but there’s just something otherworldly about this area. everything seems to grow at twice the speed here, so the gardeners just gave up and let it be.

renjun thinks it’s because of the faeries. but he remembers saying the same to one of his chamberlains when he was younger, receiving a scoff and a reminder to keep his head out of the clouds. just to spite him, he makes a point to read every book on mythology he finds in the library. 

rustling noises come from the bushes to the side of renjun, the ferns shaking about. a smile comes across his face as a person unceremoniously falls out of the foliage and onto the ground next to him. they throw their large rucksack aside and remain sprawled on the grass, panting like they’ve just run a marathon.

“that forest trail gets more overgrown every bloody time i come here,” they say, a warm smile spreading across their tanned face.

“hm, that’s because the faeries hate you.” 

they scoff in mock offense and roll over to face renjun, muttering “rude” under their breath.

“c’mere. i missed you.” renjun motions for them to join him on the bench and opens his arms, but they hesitate.

“wait, i don’t wanna get your clothes dirty.” they motion to their own clothes, simple and muddy, but renjun waves them off with a slight glare.

“haechan. does it look like i care?”

shrugging, they join him on the bench and wrap their arms around him tight. it’s been far too long for them both, their very different lives proving difficult to combine. but they make a point to meet in the gardens as often as possible, where they don’t have to be anyone but themselves. 

haechan takes their straw hat off, revealing their unnatural golden brown hair. it had been their birthday recently, turning sixteen, and renjun had given them some herbs to dye their hair with. he’d even visited the palace’s herbalist to make sure the shade would be right. 

initially, haechan refused the gift, dyed hair being a tradition reserved for nobles. and farm folk like them certainly ain’t noble, they had said at the time. but in renjun’s eyes, they already were royalty. even if the rest of the world wouldn’t think as much.

“looks great, honey.” renjun places a kiss on top of their head. “it really suits you.” 

a bright grin comes across their face at the compliment, and renjun can’t help but smile back. he feels as if the sun itself is contained in their expression, almost blinding. he’s always thought of haechan as the sun - fiery and hot, to the point where renjun worries that if they were to ever leave him, he would freeze to death.

and he does worry about that sometimes. the two can’t not, really. renjun’s family don’t know he’s secretly in love with a farmer kid, and he dreads to think what would happen if they found out. but for now, they’re his and he’s theirs, and that’s enough.

“i, uh..” haechan starts, loosening their arms around renjun, “i brought somethin’ that i wanted to show you.”

rambling a little, they grab their abandoned bag. “i found this thing-” they take out an old-looking ukulele, carefully holding the neck, “-in the attic one day, and i’ve been learning what’s what.”

they’d always been musical. there’s a long-standing joke between the two that haechan never shuts up, always singing to themselves or drumming on a nearby surface. but it’s with no malice that renjun makes fun of them, though - he’d always loved their energy. 

ukulele in hand, haechan sits on the bench once more and starts to strum. their calloused fingers on the fretboard stutter sometimes when they forget the chords, but it doesn’t matter. when they start to sing it’s completely effortless, like it comes as naturally to them as speaking.

renjun had seen far better quality instruments, of course. from violins worth thousands, to grand pianos made of the finest ivory, all the way from africa. hell, he’d even been forced to pick up a clarinet when he was younger. but nothing, nothing he’d ever heard before could even come close to the music haechan makes. 

haechan’s warm voice rings out across their space, filling the gaps between the tree trunks with golden sound. renjun knows a few of the lyrics, having heard them casually sing it on multiple occasions, so he quietly joins in. he’s nowhere near as confident as them, but he takes a few of the higher harmonies.

the two lose themself in the sweet music, complementary voices blending into one. even the cicadas and crickets stop to listen. and the faeries do too, the gardens dead silent except for their song.

as it draws to an end, the two fall from their reveries and back into the garden.

“i would have brought pa’s acoustic, but didn’t wanna damage it on the way here, y’know?” haechan snickers to themself, “fuckin’ forest demons, trying to eat me and all that.”

“they don’t like you ‘cause you’re all loud and contrary.”

“injun, _you’re_ loud and contrary.”

“no i’m not.” he says, proving their point. haechan just stares at him with an eyebrow raised, which makes him chuckle.

there’s a pause. “so, how’s it going?” 

renjun knows what they’re referring to. they know how hard his ill-fitting home life can be sometimes. and his heart melts a little at the way they phrased the question - innocuous enough that he could gloss right over it if he wished.

although this was supposed to be an escape, there _is_ something that renjun needs to say. it had been preying on his mind until haechan arrived, but he’s not too sure how to start explaining. exhaling a tense sigh, he brings his legs up onto the bench to sit cross-legged. 

“it’s okay,” haechan takes his hand in theirs, moving their thumb in small, reassuring circles. “take as much time as you need.”

renjun starts off slowly, shakily. “my mother was talking to me about, what, a week ago? and, fuck. she told me-” he pauses, tilting his head down and fidgeting with the hem of his shirt.

“hyuck, she told me she’d found a girl that i’m to marry.”

it’s silent. haechan’s brows furrow and a frown appears on their face. “look at me,” they softly say.

he can’t make himself do it, tears welling up in his eyes.

“hey, look at me-” they let go of renjun’s hand, instead tilting his head up, forcing him to meet their deep gaze. it’s stern, but not scolding. he can see the fiery anger that they feel, the quick thoughts racing through their head. but he hears their whispered words too, so intensely caring that it almost hurts.

“don’t you fucking dare let them make you cry, got it?” haechan wipes away stray dampness from around renjun’s eyes. “they don’t deserve your tears.” 

they continue, “fuck them. got it?”

he nods.

“say it.”

“fuck them.”

“better.” 

renjun rests his head against haechan’s shoulder, willing the tears away. they tighten their arms around him, enveloping him in their never-ending warmth. ever so softly, haechan combs their hands through his hair. 

the sun has long set, the sky brushed with dark blue now, but he doesn’t feel cold. he never has. voice barely more than a whisper, renjun asks into the night, “what are we going to do?”

“whatever we want, injun. we don’t have to live like this.”

“don’t we?”

“who’s stopping us from taking the next damn carriage out of here?”

he tries to not be scared, he really does. but it’s so much. closing his eyes, renjun takes the thoughts of the life he’s led so far, his family, responsibilities, and casts them into the void. 

his sun was not bestowed unto him, just for him to let it be extinguished. the stars may not always favour the two lovers, but when he thinks about it, he realises they’d always been ones to carve their own paths anyway. 

renjun gulps, raising his head to look haechan directly in the eyes. “then,” he utters, voice full of dreams. “let’s ride off into the sunset. just us two.”

that same fond smile, the one that contains renjun’s whole universe, spreads over haechan’s face. “you and i? we’ll take the world by storm.”

**Author's Note:**

> reNhyUCK WORLD DOMINATION that is all. thank you for reading! if you enjoyed, please consider leaving a comment, they rly make my day :D


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